Penelope

Penelope was the heroine of the Odyssey. Penelope (Πηνελόπη) was the daughter of Icarius, brother of King Tyndareüs of Sparta. Her mother was named Periboea. On her father's side, Penelope was first cousin of Helen Clytemnestra and the Dioscuri, Castor and Polydeuces (Pollux).

Tyndareüs did not forget Odysseus' wise advice, when his daughter had many powerful princes as her suitors. Tyndareüs helped Odysseus to win the hand of his niece Penelope in marriage. Penelope was the daughter of Tyndareüs' brother Icarius, so Penelope was first cousin to Helen. Tyndareüs encouraged his brother to arrange a footrace between the suitors. Odysseus, who was known for his fleetness of foot, won the race. They were married and stayed in Sparta for some time before Odysseus decided to return to his kingdom, on the island of Ithaca.

Icarius, however, opposed his daughter leaving him, because he doted on Penelope. Penelope had a tough decision of either staying with her father or leaving her father to go with her new husband. Penelope covered her face with her veil, and left Sparta with Odysseus.

Penelope became the mother of Telemachus, but their happiness was short-lived. The Trojan War arrived and Odysseus was conscripted to join the Greek army when Telemachus was still an infant. Odysseus was reluctant to join the army because he knew from the oracle that he would not return home until twenty years later.

Unlike her cousins Helen, Clytemnestra and Timandra, who had all committed adultery, Penelope was faithful to her husband during his absence. That's because Tyndareüs had forgotten to sacrifice to Aphrodite. Aphrodite punished Tyndareüs by making all three daughters into adulteresses. After Odysseus' absence from Ithaca for almost 17 years later, her home had 108 suitors from Ithaca and the surrounding islands, who wanted her to choose one of them as her new husband. She refused to accept any of them, but she was powerless to drive them out of her palace. When Odysseus returned and killed all the suitors, they were reunited as husband and wife. See the Odyssey for the entire tale about Odysseus' adventure after the war.

According to one peculiar Arcadian legend, Penelope was not as faithful as she had seemed in the Odyssey. It was said that she was seduced by one of her suitors, possibly Amphinomus or Antinous. Odysseus divorced her, so Penelope returned home to Sparta. But during her journey, she had somehow gotten lost in Arcadia. When she reached Mantinea, Hermes seduced her and she gave birth to the god Pan. But in other legends, Penelope remained faithful to Odysseus until his death.

According to the Telegony (Epic Cycle), Odysseus left Ithaca and stayed in Thesprotia for a number of years, married to Thesprotia's queen, Callidice, but the hero returned to Penelope when Callidice died. Penelope had another son with Odysseus named Acusilaus.

Odysseus also had a son named Telegonus, but by the sorceress Circe. Telegonus left home in the hope of finding his father. Father and son didn't recognise each other, so Telegonus unwittingly killed his father during a raid. Penelope and her son Telemachus forgave Telegonus. They left together to dwell in Circe's island palace. Circe married Telemachus, while Penelope married Odysseus' other son, Telegonus. Circe made Penelope and their sons immortal.